Bitcoin has a steep learning curve. Most of us here understand the fundamentals of the technology even if some don't understand cryptography. I called in to a radio talk show and tried to quickly explain what Bitcoin is about. I realized that there are very complex meanings to the terminology we toss about. How do you explain Bitcoin to civilians before they roll their eyes and walk away?

Any significantly advanced cryptocurrency is indistinguishable from Ponzi Tulips.

"Bitcoin is the most efficient form of money transfer ever invented. You can send money like you send an email, to anyone, anywhere in the world at anytime, without going through a bank. Would you like to try it?"

in my eyes, using the e-mail analogy is one of the best ways. it's wrong from the technical standpoint, but for the average user it's a good example. they all know what a traditional letter is and that it takes a day or more to transfer it. also, it involves real paper. e-mail takes seconds, involves no paper and you also don't have to go out of your home to do it.of course, online banking tries to close this gap, but it still takes some time for the transfer to actually happen.

"Bitcoin is a currency invented in the Internet. They have value because they are difficult to obtain. There will be just 21 million bitcoins in existence. The system is decentralized, with no single point of failure. It is designed in a way that take advantage of what the worst hackers in the world knows best (crack hashes), and use that power to secure all the transactions."

As the matter of fact, 30 seconds is not enough time to talk about satoshi, deflation, fiat money, gold standard, cryptography, PGP signed messages, silk road, austrian economics...

Might be a little weird to do it cold, but if you want to get bold you could try to buy coins from random people. Just be like "I need some bitcoins, do you know anyone?". You'll get like 100% nos of course, but you'll up exposure and it's just odd enough an interaction you'll probably get a solid % googling it later. And it'll help them understand right away that bitcoin isn't a MtGox(tm) product, you can buy it from your peers on the street.

Play Bitcoin Poker at sealswithclubs.eu. We're active and open to everyone.

Now, having said that, as more people see the utility of this transfer mechanism, they will have the disposition to hold it for longer periods of time. And in that sense it develops, organically, its currency value, investment status.

But that is way beyond most people. They just want to be ableto move THE MONEY THEY KNOW with as little hassle as possible.

Bitcoin facilitates that.

The "store of value" pitch is a loser. IF people come to that belief then letthem do it out of their own experience with Bitcoin.

Because the world we increasingly live in is characterized by one thing morethan anything else - uncertainty!

So don't promise certainty when, in fact, you cannot. And everything in people's daily life is telling them that 'certainty sellers' are totalcon-men, frauds or idiots.

People are trying desperately hard to make rational decisions in an increasinglyinsane environment. DON'T BE, OR EVEN LOOK LIKE, AN EFFING HUCKSTER,which you immediately will if you hype Bitcoin as investment or starttalking about it as if it were gold.

Bitcoin is not gold; it's code.

In short, the only "certainty" that a newbie needs is a sense that it is extremely unlikely that the entire Bitcoin system will crashduring the few minutes they use it to send money to Aunt Harriet.